Regular readers of Gillmor's eJournal will recognize his commitment to user participation. "One of the things I'm sure about in journalism right now is that my readers know more than I do," he says. "To the extent that I can take advantage of that in a way that does something for everyone involved ó that strikes me as pretty cool." One fascinating aspect of Gillmor's Weblog is how he lifts the veil from the workings of the journalism profession. "There have been occasions where I put up a note saying, 'I'm working on the following and here's what I think I know,' and the invitation is for the reader to either tell me I'm on the right track, I'm wrong, or at the very least help me find the missing pieces," he says. "That's a pretty interesting thing. Many thousands more people read my column in the newspaper than online, but I do hear back from a fair number of people from the Weblog."

Ifthat’sthecase,wequestionwhetherthereshouldbeadifferentlabelforcuratorsandaggregatorsfortworeasons.Aswehaveargued,digitalactsinvolvedoingsomethingthroughvariousactionsnotconfinedtolanguagebutincludingimagesandsoundsaswellasthecoding,linking,andclassifyingofcontent.Second,theseactionsresignifyquestionsofanonymity,extensity,traceability,andvelocity.Theyenablethedisseminationofnewswithanonymityatalmostinstantaneousspeedthroughnumerousnetworks,andtheyleavetracesalongtheway.Asweshallnowargue,thisisindeedadistinctlycyberspaceenactmentofcitizenwitnessing

‘citizenjournalismunderstandspeopleashavingpoliticalroles,interestsandrelationships,andasactivelyinterestedinsharingnewstheydeemrelevant.Itunderstands,orperhapsintuits,thataknee-jerkdefinitionofallformsofjournalismasacquiringanddistributinginformationmissesthepoint.’

BoletteBlaagaard,forexample,arguesthatthecontributionofcitizenjournalismhasbeentochallengetheostensibleobjectivityofprofessionaljournalism.[4]Shearguesthatincreatingajournalisticobjectivity,professionaljournalismportrayedaknowingsubjectthatisdetached,unemotional,neutral,unbiased,andindependent.Bycontrast,citizenjournalism’scontributionhasbeentodemonstratethatpassionate,attached,affective,andbiasedyetfairreportingcanresultfromjournalisticsubjectivity

Fromourperspective,participationisasubmissive(thoughnotobedient)actinorbywhichacitizensubjectperformsaclaim.Thereoughttobesomethingbroaderthanconnectingittojournalismalonetocharacterizeactsbywhichcitizensproduceknowledgeaboutevents.Moreover,theassociationoftheterm‘citizen’withthisrathersubmissiveparticipationoverlookstheradicalpotentialofthefigureofthecitizensubjectasanagentofsubmissionandsubversionandthussubjectofpower

thismomentsignalledthattheInternetwaslooseningthegripofprofessionaljournalismontheproductionanddisseminationofnewsandtruthtelling.Sincethen,muchhasbeenwrittenonwhetherthisisindeedthecaseorwhetherprofessionaljournalismhasnowconsolidateditsgrip.Butthereisnodoubtthathoweveritisdefined—alternativejournalism,citizen’smedia,citizenjournalism,democraticmedia,andradicalmedia—somethingnewisafootinjournalistictruthtellingandknowledgeproductionthroughcyberspace.